1 April | EVERYONE

WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT TO BUILD THE TEMPLE

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!" 1 Kings 8:27

Where does God live? Do you have a home? In dedicating the temple to God, Solomon prayed, saying, “hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause” (1 Kings 8:49). According to this prayer, the heavens are the habitation of God. The Scriptures testify to the reality of the heavenly sanctuary.

The concept of a sanctuary in heaven, where God dwells, naturally implies a certain space or a majestic structure of which we know little or nothing. And of which, we can speak only in the light of the images and terminology of the earthly sanctuary because it was built on the model of the heavenly sanctuary, which was shown to Moses by the Lord.

But now an apparent problem arises. How can God be confined to a place in heaven if He Himself says that His presence covers the whole Earth? Solomon, for his part, says, "The heavens of heavens cannot contain you." So how is it that God lives in the sanctuary?

God desires to dwell amid His children and to be part of the experience of His creatures. That longing gave birth to the heavenly sanctuary. God, who is not limited to time or space, needed a point in the vast universe where He could encounter the creature, who is limited by time and space. That point is the heavenly sanctuary. It does not exist for God's sake, but for the sake of created beings.

God is not limited to the sanctuary. Omnipresent, He is in every corner of the universe at the same time, but in the heavenly sanctuary, angelic beings come into contact with Him.

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Solomon, who oversaw building a temple for God, knew that God cannot be contained, and how can we still doubt that today? Think about it, is it not wonderful to know that God is accessible to you everywhere, including your place of work, study, and even by your bedside when you sleep...?